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[quote=Anonymous]It's good that you are watching and evaluating her performance with an objective eye.  Lots of parents see their DC sports performance through very biased eyes.

That said, here's a bit of a contrarian view.  If she thinks she can perform at the top level through extra practice, consider researching and then sharing with her what the workout/practice regimens are of top players at the older age group.  Then have an honest discussion about whether she is willing to commit to the "job" that playing sports at a high level requires even for gifted athletes. Make sure she understands that there are days where its going to be a grind and she can't take a day off just because she doesn't feel like it that day.

I'm not sure what the workout looks like for high level softball players, but in other sports it is usually team practice 2-3x per week (5x per week in HS), individual skills workouts (1-2x per week), individual strength workouts (1-3x per week), plus games 2x per week.  Its a bit less if you are a level down from the top level teams, but its still work. When you put that list in front of a player the vast majority of them will understand that the sport they are playing is going to be the major aspect of their life and they will need to make choices about what they aren't going to be able to do to pursue the sport.

If she understands that and still wants to do it then you should absolutely support her.  That level of grit is rare in most youth players and it is absolutely true that hard work overcomes a lot of athletic ability deficiency. If she understands but doesn't want to put that level of commitment in you can discuss what the appropriate level is and what it will cost and then proceed from there.

All that said, I don't think you should ever crush a younger child's dreams based on their performance at a young age.  There are lots of college athletes who are playing today because they loved the sport more and just outworked other athletes who may be more athletically gifted than them.  And if you listen to pro athletes and ask them what makes them different from others, they almost all talk about their work ethic first. Sure, a lot of them have natural ability but there are also some that just found a niche and maximized their ability to do a specific set of skills.

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